Favorite Quotes
On Absolutes
The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
Flannery O’Connor, author
On Accomplishment
If a man has done his best, what else is there?
George Patton, general
The man who has done his best has done everything.
Charles M. Schwab, steel tycoon
On Achievement
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist
How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it.
Jim Valvano, basketball coach
On Action
You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.
Carl Jung, psychotherapist
All men are alike in their promises. It is only in their deeds that they differ.
Moliere, French playwright
Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action
Brendan Francis, poet
You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady
Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.
Wayne Dyer, author
What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.
John Ruskin, writer
There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen.
Jim Lovell, astronaut
You’re not going to talk your way out of a problem you behaved yourself into.
Stephen Covey, author
Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Napoleon Hill, author
I’d rather be the least knowledgeable person that’s doing something than the most knowledgeable person that isn’t.
Bob Goff
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
Leonardo da Vinci, inventor
The future starts today, not tomorrow.
John Paul II, pope
The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.
Booker T. Washington, educator
Don’t be a spectator; don’t let life pass you by.
Lou Holtz, football coach
There is no difference between you and those who have achieved their goals other than they have acted on their visions. Act Now.
David Kidder, author
Words are plentiful, but deeds are precious.
Lech Walesa, Polish president
Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden
Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.
Vaclav Havel, statesman
Seize the day.
Horace, poet
Men may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.
Charles Spurgeon, minister
Action expresses priorities.
Mahatma Gandhi, statesman
We are given one life, and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live.
Omar Bradley, general
Imperfect action is better than no action.
Giovanna Garcia, public speaker
The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.
Jacob Bronowski, biologist
Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.
Mary Kay Ash
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Sun Tzu, general
Step by step, and the thing is done.
Charles Atlas, bodybuilder
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do. You are made for action.
John Mason, author
On Advancement
Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers, humorist
On Adventure
Don’t keep forever on the public road. … Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
For the real danger to professing Christians lies not in the more glaring and grosser temptations and sins, but in a slow deterioration of vision, a slow death to daring, courage, and the willingness to adventure.
J.B. Phillips
On Adversity
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort but where he stands at times of challenge.
Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader
On Ambition
Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.
James Baldwin, author
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C.S. Lewis, author
I can live for two months on a good compliment.
Mark Twain, author
I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.
Carl Jung, psychiatrist
On Authenticity
Being fake about anything creates a block inside of you. Life can’t work for you if you don’t show up as you.
Jason Mraz, musician
Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second-rate version of someone else.
Judy Garland, actress
The best advice I’ve received is to be yourself. The best artists do that.
Frank Gehry, architect
When you’re true to who you are, amazing things happen.
Deborah Norville, TV anchor
On Awareness
Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide awake, on tiptoe.
Josh Billings, comedian
On Becoming
Now with God’s help I shall become myself.
Søren Kierkegaard
On Beginning
For me, the winning strategy in any startup business is: Think big but start small.
Carmen Busquets, fashion entrepreneur
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Arthur Ashe, tennis player
It’s not too late. I can still live my dreams.
Diana Nyad, long-distance swimmer
Have a bias toward action — let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.
Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India
Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
Carl Bard
On Belief
They can because they think they can.
Virgil, philosopher
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope.
Helen Keller, author
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
On Boldness
If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.
St. Thomas Aquinas, theologian
On Bravery
Courage does not always roar; sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying: I will try again tomorrow.
Mary Anne Radmacher, author
Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.
George Patton, general
On Brokenness
The world breaks everyone, and afterward some are strong at the broken places.
Ernest Hemingway, author
On Callings
Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.
Rumi, poet
On Challenges
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
Frank Clark, statesman
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein, physicist
On Champions
Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision.
Muhammad Ali, boxer
On Change
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. president
On Character
The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
Thomas Macaulay, British war secretary
Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.
J.C. Watts, congressman
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Emerson
Kids don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.
Jim Henson, puppeteer
When the great scorer comes to write against your name, he marks not that you won or lost, but how you played the game.
Grantland Rice, sportswriter
Good Character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day.
Heraclitus
The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.
Anne Frank, writer
On Cheer
Be friendly to everyone. Those who deserve it the least need it the most.
Bo Bennett, entrepreneur
On Children
Success in life is that your kids want to spend time with you once they’ve grown up.
Paul Orfalea
What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?
John Green, author
Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
Viktor Frankl
On Choice
Choice, not chance, determines destiny.
John Mason, author
On Clarity
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein, physicist
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.
W. H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition
You’re either IN or you’re OUT. There’s no such thing as life in between.
Pat Riley, basketball coach
On Commitment
If you don’t make a total commitment to whatever you are doing then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It’s tough enough getting the boat to shore with everybody rowing, let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his life jacket on.
Lou Holtz, football coach
On Comparison
I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.
Mikhail Baryshnikov, ballet dancer
On Compassion
No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
Aesop, storyteller
On Confidence
When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.
Henry Kaiser, industrialist
Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your handbrake on.
Maxwell Maltz, surgeon
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady
If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t, you’re right.
Henry Ford, car executive
When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. When you have fun, you can do amazing things.
Joe Namath, quarterback
On Consistency
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle, philosopher
On Contentment
The crowning fortune of a man is to be born to some pursuit which finds him employment and happiness, whether it be to make baskets, or broadswords, or canals, or statues or songs.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist
On Conviction
A man is what he believes.
Anton Chekhov, author
A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
Oscar Wilde, playwright
On Courage
Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition, in having put forth the best within you.
Henry Kaiser, industrialist
On Curiosity
Wisdom begins in wonder.
Socrates, philosopher
On Criticism
Almost every time I make a building, some people will condemn it straight to hell.
Arne Jacobsen, architect
On Daring
Adventure is a state of mind — and spirit.
Jacqueline Cochran, aviator
On Decisions
It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
J.K. Rowling, author
On Details
Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.
Benjamin Franklin, inventor
On Determination
If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.
John Irving, author
I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.
Carl Jung, psychiatrist
There is a time when we must firmly choose the course which we will follow, or the endless drift of events will make the decision for us.
Herbert Prochnow, banking executive
On Development
Life is a succession of crises and moments when we have to rediscover who we are and what we really want.
Jean Vanier, philosopher
On Direction
To the person who does not know where he wants to go, there is no favorable wind.
Seneca, philosopher
A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.
Thomas Carlyle, writer
On Discernment
The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
Jean Paul, author
On Discipline
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
Larry Elder, radio host
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.
Jim Rohn, author
On Discovery
You can’t stumble upon something new and wonderful if you don’t have time to stumble.
Janet Echelman, sculptor
The discovery of what God has created us to do is a matter of asking, seeking, and knocking. The discoverable clues about who we are can be found only as we resist the shallows and prefer the deep. We are to be explorers and archaeologists, not tourists and visitors.
Gary Barkalow
On Dreams
I dream my painting and I paint my dream.
Vincent Van Gogh
Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.
Will Smith, actor
If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.
Dhirubhai Ambani, business tycoon
You have to dream before your dreams can come true.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, president of India
On Drive
Find something that you’re really interested in doing in your life. Pursue it, set goals and commit yourself to excellence. Do the best you can.
Chris Evert, tennis player
What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
Henry David Thoreau, philosopher
An invincible determination can accomplish almost anything, and in this lies the great distinction between great men and little men.
Thomas Fuller, writer
On Education
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
Henry Adams, historian
I am not a teacher, but an awakener.
Robert Frost, poet
If you want to be a leader, you’ve got to be a reader.
David Noebel, theologian
A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Supreme Court justice
On Effort
If people knew how hard I worked to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful.
Michelangelo, sculptor
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
Pablo Picasso, painter
I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
Thomas Jefferson, third U.S. president
If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.
Michelangelo, sculptor
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas Edison, inventor
On Empathy
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller, author
On Encouraging People
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great.
Mark Twain, author
On Endeavor
What one has, one ought to use; and whatever he does, he should do it with all his might.
Cicero, philosopher
On Engagement
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Teddy Roosevelt
On Enthusiasm
Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer
On Environment
Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.
Pablo Picasso, artist
On Example
The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.
John Wooden, basketball coach
On Excellence
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
Arthur Conan Doyle, author
On Execution
Your life will be no better than the plans you make and the action you take. You are the architect and builder of your own life, fortune, destiny.
Alfred Montapert, author
On Exploring
Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.
Albert Einstein, physicist
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
On Experience
From now until the end of time no one else will ever see life with my eyes, and I mean to make the best of my chance.
Christopher Morley, writer
On Facts
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
John Adams
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet
When the truth is spoken, it doesn’t need to be adorned. It just needs to be simply stated, and often it only needs to be said once.
James Nachtwey, war photographer
On Failure
Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.
Babe Ruth, baseball player
On Faith
Both faith and fear sail into the harbor of your mind, but only faith should be allowed to anchor.
John Mason, author
On Fear
The one thing we owe absolutely to God is never to be afraid of anything.
Charles De Foucauld
On Finance
The man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.
Ayn Rand, novelist
On Fire
The tendency of fire is to go out; watch the fire on the altar of your heart. Anyone who has tended a fireplace fire knows that it needs to be stirred up occasionally.
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
On Flexibility
For the most part things never get built the way they were drawn.
Maya Lin, architect
On Focus
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
Henry Ford, car pioneer
One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.
Paul Nitze, Navy secretary
To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business and your business in your heart.
Thomas J. Watson Sr., executive
You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
Andre Gide, author
The man who chases two rabbits catches neither.
Confucius, philosopher
Do your best, one shot at a time, and then move on.
Nancy Lopez, golfer
You cannot be anything if you want to be everything.
Solomon Schechter
On Following Through
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.
William James, philosopher
On Forgiveness
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
Francis of Assisi, saint
On Foresight
The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth.
Warren Buffett, executive
On Friendship
Hold a true friend with both your hands.
Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher
A friend is what the heart needs all the time.
Henry van Dyke, poet
I have found it is better to be alone than in the wrong company.
John Mason, author
If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl, but if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights.
John Mason, author
On Fulfillment
Don’t go to the grave with life unused.
Bobby Bowden, football coach
On the Future
Consult not your fears, but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.
Pope John XXIII, religious leader
This world is but a canvas to our imagination.
Henry David Thoreau, philosopher
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson, President
The good old days were never that good, believe me. The good new days are today, and better days are coming tomorrow. Our greatest songs are still unsung.
Hubert Humphrey, Vice President
On Getting Stronger
If you want to change the fruits, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible, you must first change the invisible.
T. Harv Eker, author
On Goals
Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.
Pablo Picasso, artist
A goal is a dream with a deadline.
Napoleon Hill
It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.
Theodore Hesburgh, clergyman
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.
Michelangelo, sculptor
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
Vince Lombardi, football coach
I never set out to beat the world. I just set out to do my absolute best.
Al Oerter, Olympic discus champ
In the long run, men hit only what they aim at.
Henry David Thoreau, author
A good goal is like a strenuous exercise — it makes you stretch.
Mary Kay Ash, cosmetics entrepreneur
Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.
Winston Churchill, British prime minister
I don’t believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.
Ken Venturi, golfer
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
Mary Robinson, Irish president
I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.
Michael J. Fox, actor
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
Michelangelo, sculptor
You should set goals beyond your reach so you always have something to live for.
Ted Turner, media mogul
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
C.S. Lewis, author
On Gratitude
If you don’t think every day is a good day, just try missing one.
Cavett Robert, professional speaker
On God
You will know as much of God, and only as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice.
Eric Liddell
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
A.W. Tozer
A low view of God is the cause of a hundred lesser evils, but a high view of God is the solution to ten thousand temporal problems.
A.W. Tozer
On Happiness
Be happy with what you have while working for what you want.
Helen Keller, writer
On Greatness
If a man has any greatness in him, it comes to light, not in one flamboyant hour, but in the ledger of his daily work.
Beryl Markham, aviator
On Harmony
I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy as cause for withdrawing from a friend..
Thomas Jefferson, third U.S. president.
On the Heart
The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena, but the small clearing of each heart.
Yann Martel, author
On Idealism
Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.
Helen Keller, author
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead, anthropologist
On Ideas
Nothing else in the world… not all the armies… is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
Victor Hugo, author
On Identity
For this is the journey that men and women make, to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn’t matter much else what they find.
James Michener, author
Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.
Harvey Fierstein, playwright
On Imagination
If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney, entertainment executive
There are those that look at things the way they are and ask why? I dream of things that never were and ask why not?
Robert Kennedy, attorney general
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.
Helen Keller, writer
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
Michelangelo, artist
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Einstein
On Impact
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou, author
On Improvement
Don’t be too proud to take lessons. I’m not.
Jack Nicklaus, golfer
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
Anne Frank
On Individuality
Treasure the things about you that make you different and unique.
Karen Kain, ballet dancer
On Initiative
He who hesitates is lost
Joseph Addison
The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
Mark Twain, writer
Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club.
Jack London, author
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
W.H. Murray, mountaineer
On the Inner Voice
Somewhere inside, we hear a voice. It leads us in the direction of the person we wish to become. But it is up to us whether or not to follow.
Pat Tillman
On Innovation
Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet
On Inspiration
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.
Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. president
Divine fires do not blaze each day, but an artist functions in their afterglow hoping for their recurrence.
Ned Rorem, composer
A leader is a dealer in hope.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor
The heart, not the head, must be the guide.
Arthur Erickson, architect
Just as our eyes need light in order to see, our minds need ideas in order to conceive.
Nicolas Malebranche, philosopher
On Integrity
To err is nature, to rectify error is glory.
George Washington, first U.S. president
The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.
Pierre de Coubertin, educator
On Joy
Do anything, but let it produce joy.
Walt Whitman, poet
On Journeys
Instead of trying to make your life perfect, give yourself the freedom to make it an adventure, and go ever upward.
Drew Houston, executive
One of the hidden truths of life is the fact that the path to the prize is always more valuable than the prize itself.
John Mason
On Kindness
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.
James Barrie, author
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
William Shakespeare, playwright
On Leadership
Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes.
Peter Drucker, Consultant
On Learning
Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Malcolm Forbes, publisher
Live as though you’ll die tomorrow, but learn as though you’ll live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian leader
On Letting Go
When you forgive, you in no way change the past, but you sure do change the future.
Bernard Meltzer, radio host
A leader is a dealer in hope.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor
You manage things, you lead people.
Grace Hopper, admiral
On Life
And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
Abraham Lincoln
On Listening
When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us and come to life.
Brenda Ueland, author
On Living
It is not length of life, but depth of life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is just one life for each of us: our own.
Euripides
May you live all the days of your life.
Jonathan Swift
What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.
W.H. Davies
On Love
Take away love, and our earth is a tomb.
Robert Browning, poet
It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Shakespeare
My baseball career was a long, long initiation into a single secret: At the heart of all things is love.
Sadaharu Oh, baseball player
The more one judges, the less one loves.
Honore De Balzac
On Minutiae
It’s the little things that count, hundreds of ’em.
Cliff Shaw, systems programmer
On Mission
The great use of a life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.
William James, psychologist
On Mistakes
Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
Henry Ford, industrialist
On Modesty
Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
John Wooden, basketball coach
On the Moment
The living moment is everything.
D. H. Lawrence
On Navigation
I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
James Dean, actor
On Now
Nothing is worth more than this day.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, writer
Appreciate the moment.
Isamu Noguchi, sculptor
Time goes on. So whatever you’re going to do, do it. Do it now. Don’t wait.
Robert De Niro, actor
On Not Quitting
It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
Babe Ruth, baseball player
On Observation
To pay attention — this is our endless and proper work.
Mary Oliver, poet
On Obstacles
We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.
Lee Iacocca, car executive
On Openness
He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality, and will never, therefore, make any progress.
Anwar Sadat, statesman
You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery and always challenge yourself to try new things.
Nate Berkus, interior designer
On Opportunity
Make each day your masterpiece.
John Wooden, basketball coach
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
Carl Sandburg, author
On Outlook
Make each day your masterpiece.
John Wooden, basketball coach
After a storm comes a calm.
Matthew Henry, clergyman
On Optimism
The good old days were never that good, believe me. The good new days are today, and better days are coming tomorrow. Our greatest songs are still unsung.
Hubert Humphrey, 38th U.S. vice president
The way to see faith is to shut the eye of reason.
Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father
Clear your mind of can’t.
Samuel Johnson, author
I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.
Agatha Christie, novelist
The last of human freedoms is to choose one’s attitudes.
Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist
On Pace
Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast — you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
Eddie Cantor, entertainer
On Passion
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, writer
Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.
Robert Frost
Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher, educator
Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it’s business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don’t love what you’re doing and you can’t give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You’ll be an old man before you know it.
Al Lopez, baseball manager
Fires can’t be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.
James Baldwin, author
You have to fight for your life. That’s the chief condition on which you hold it.
Saul Bellow, novelist
On Perfection
I fear not the man who practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
Bruce Lee, martial artist
On Performance
The important thing is that we should perform ourselves rather than watch others..
Roger Bannister
On Persistence
Failure is only an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Henry Ford, industrialist
If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.
Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Thomas Edison, inventor
Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to achieve it. The time will pass anyway.
Earl Nightingale, author
To follow, without halt, one aim: There is the secret of success.
Anna Pavlova, ballerina
You never fail until you stop trying.
Albert Einstein, physicist
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Thomas Edison, inventor
You may have to fight the battle more than once to win it.
Margaret Thatcher, British prime minister
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
Confucius, philosopher
Never too old, never too bad, never too late, never too sick to start from scratch once again.
Bikram Choudhury, yoga guru
On Perseverance
If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want to taste of freedom, keep going.
Harriet Tubman
Winners never quit, and quitters never win.
Vince Lombardi, football coach
The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity.
Amelia Earhart, pilot
Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.
William Sprague, clergyman
Success . . . seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.
Conrad Hilton, hotelier
If you’re going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill, British prime minister
On Persuasion
We used to say if you want me in on the landing, then include me on the takeoff.
George Shultz, former U.S. secretary of state
On Planning
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania
On Possibilities
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
Benjamin Franklin, statesman
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania
All things are possible to him that believes
Jesus
Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.
Dale Carnegie, inspirational speaker
On Potential
Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself, and never mind the rest.
Beatrix Potter, author
There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
Nelson Mandela, statesman
It’s never too late to become what you might have been.
George Eliot, author
We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
William Shakespeare, playwright
On Prayer
Time spent in communion with God is never lost/
Gordon Lindsay
On Preparation
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father
Each man should frame life so that at some future hour, fact and his dreaming meet.
Victor Hugo, author
On The Present
Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
Anne Frank, writer
Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future. Act now without delay.
Simone de Beauvoir, author
Do what you can, where you are at, with what you have.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. president
On Principles
I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately triumph than triumph in a cause that will ultimately fail.
Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. president
To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
Mahatma Gandhi, statesman
On Priorities
I have looked into the mirror every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?
Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder
Our life is frittered away by detail. . . . Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!
Henry David Thoreau, author
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Stephen Covey, author
Celebrate what you want to see more of.
Tom Peters, Author
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.
Lin Yutang, writer
On Productivity
You never want to have that ticking clock and know that you had all this time and didn’t use it.
J.J. Abrams, film director
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.
Margaret Thatcher, British prime minister
On Progress
I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before.
Sidney Poitier, actor
We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.
Max De Pree, leadership coach
You can take from every experience what it has to offer you. And you cannot be defeated if you just keep taking one breath followed by another.
Oprah Winfrey, media mogul
On Purpose
The two most important days in life are the day you are born and the day you discover the reason why.
Mark Twain, writer
Have a clear purpose as your north star.
Ekaterina Walter
On Quality
Dream more than others think practical. Expect more than others think possible. Care more than others think wise.
Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO
On Regret
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.
Mark Twain, writer
On Renewal
No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.
Jack Kornfield, author
On Resistance
A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind.
Lewis Mumford, historian
On Resourcefulness
The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.
Vince Lombardi, football coach
What really matters is what you do with what you have.
H.G. Wells, author
Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well.
Jack London, author
On Resolve
The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur.
Vince Lombardi, football coach
On Responsibility
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy, novelist
A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with — a man is what he makes of himself.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
On Results
The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.
John Ruskin, writer
On Risk
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Wayne Gretzky, hockey player
On Routine
We are what we do repeatedly. Excellence then is not an act. It is a habit.
Aristotle, philosopher
A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.
John Augustus Shedd, author
Someone should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.
Paul VI, pope
We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success.
Henry David Thoreau, author
Take those chances and you can achieve greatness, whereas if you go conservative, you’ll never know. Even if you fail, learning and moving on are sometimes the best thing.
Danica Patrick, car racer
On Sacrifice
No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.
Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. president
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
Joseph Campbell, writer
On Scars
God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars.
Elbert Hubbard, publisher
On Scratching The Surface
I think what a life in science really teaches you is the vastness of our ignorance.
David Eagleman, neuroscientist
Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.
Art Buchwald, columnist
You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you’re going
to live. Now.
Joan Baez, musician
On Self
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Mother Teresa, humanitarian
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.
Aldous Huxley, author
Don’t let the noise of other’s’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.
Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder
On the Power of Story
Tell me a fact, and I’ll learn.
Tell me a truth, and I’ll believe.
But tell me a story, and It will live in my heart forever.
Ed Sabol
On Success
Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.
John Rohn, Entrepreneur
On Taking Chances
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain, author
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mohandas Gandhi, Indian leader
On Teamwork
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
Helen Keller, author
On Thanks
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you”?
William Ward
On Time
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder
On Touchstones
To succeed, you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.
Tony Dorsett, football player
On Uniqueness
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke, poet
Ultimately, you have to pursue your own path, not someone’s idea of the right path. You need to stay on your path.
Baz Luhrmann, film director
The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead even more than teamwork.
Igor Sikorsky, aviator
No one in the world is like you. So capitalize on it.
Jack Lord, actor
On Urgency
Life is very short, and what we have to do must be done in the now.
Audre Lorde, poet
On Vision
The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
Benjamin Mays, clergyman
Capital isn’t scarce, vision is.
Sam Walton
Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it.
Mother Teresa, humanitarian
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
Carl Jung
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney, entertainment entrepreneur
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
Carl Sagan, astronomer
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
C.S. Lewis, author
On Worry
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.
Corrie ten Boom, social activist
On Why
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
On Writing
By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.
Mark Victor Hansen, motivational speaker
The idea is to get the pencil moving quickly.
Bernard Malamud, author
Write a page a day. It will add up.
Herman Wouk, writer
Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down.
Hector Berlioz, conductor